Detecting new gravitational waves from two colliding black holes

German scientists continue to discover that new gravitational signals stem from the merger of two black holes 3 billion light-years away.

In the study published in Physical Review Letter, scientists of the Interfering Laser Wave Observatory (LIGO) said they have recorded a new gravitational wave signal from the merger of two holes. black, Los Angeles Times on June 1 reported.

The new gravitational wave signal , GW170104 , was discovered early in the morning by LIGO on January 4, when two black holes turned toward each other and eventually merged into one.

GW170104 came from the merger of a black hole 3 billion light-years from Earth, far farther than the two gravitational wave signals discovered by LIGO.

The result of the merger is a new, heavy black hole equivalent to 48.7 Sun, born. The two black holes in the collision have the masses of 31.2 and 19.4 respectively. The lost mass is converted into gravitational waves.

Graphic of two merged black holes.(Photo: LIGO).

The new black hole is considered to have medium volume compared to the black hole formed from the previous two mergers. Scientists believe that mid-range black holes are becoming increasingly popular."The discovery clearly demonstrates the existence of unknown black hole groups before being discovered by LIGO," said Dr. Sathyaprakash, Ph.D., a member of LIGO.

Much of the black hole produced by a dead star is significantly lighter than the newly discovered black hole. Some ultra-massive black holes, weighing millions to billions of solar masses, lie in the center of galaxies.

In the past two mergers of black holes, black holes turned in the same direction as their orbit like two people dancing rhythmically. However, the gravitational wave signal from the third merger shows that two black holes do not rotate on the same axis, indicating that they are only parallel at the end of the life cycle.

The discovery also allows scientists to limit research on Albert Einstein's theory of relativity through studying the possibility of scattering gravitational waves. Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves more than a century ago, suggesting that gravitational waves are not scattered like light. LIGO's measurements are not in conflict with Einstein's conclusion.

The discovery of this new gravitational wave also turns LIGO's work from studying single phenomena in the universe into a systematic study of black holes in the universe. The findings also indicate the diversity of these black holes.

In 2016, LIGO announced the discovery of signals of shock waves by two black holes colliding. The second collision took place not long after. By studying distortions in space and time, scientists "hear" phenomena such as merged black holes.